The present invention relates generally to xe2x80x9csquarexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9crectangularxe2x80x9d crop balers having a generally horizontally disposed baling chamber, a reciprocating plunger within the chamber, and an in-line, underslung loading duct projecting downwardly and forwardly from the bottom of the chamber to a crop pickup apparatus. More particularly, the invention concerns improvements in a stuffer operable within the duct for transferring crop material from the pickup apparatus to the baling chamber.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,335 assigned to the assignee of the present invention there is disclosed and claimed an in-line baler in which the stuffer performs the dual purpose of both precompressing charges in the loading duct and stuffing such charges into the baling chamber. While such stuffer has performed well in a variety of crop conditions, in some conditions more than others there is a tendency for the baler to produce bales that are softer in the lower central areas of the bale and firmer in the upper corners, rather than uniformly dense throughout the cross-section of the bale.
Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to improve upon the dual-purpose stuffing concepts of the ""335 Patent by consistently providing more uniform density across the entire cross-sectional area of the bale. The present invention continues the concept of providing the stuffer with a pair of fore-and-aft mutually spaced apart forks presenting a leading fork and a trailing fork with respect to the direction of travel of the stuffer during a stuffer stroke. The leading fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins rearwardly of the forwardly facing inlet of the duct, while the trailing fork has a generally kidney-shaped path of travel that begins forwardly of the duct inlet. Accordingly, the leading fork precompresses the charge against the bottom of the plunger as the plunger is covering the open end of the duct and then stuffs the precompressed charge into the chamber when the plunger is sufficiently retracted. The trailing fork, on the other hand, sweeps new material into the inlet of the duct and advances it at least to the beginning of the path of travel of the leading fork as the leading fork carries out and completes its stuffing stroke. However, in accordance with the present invention, the leading fork is wider than the trailing fork, rather than the same width as in the stuffer of the ""335 Patent. This allows extra room in front of the inlet of the duct for center-gathering stub augers to move additional material further to the lateral center than in the prior are design and results in more uniform density across the cross-section of the bale.
In the preferred embodiment, the prongs on both the leading and trailing forks are all equally spaced apart and in fore-and-aft alignment. However, there are four prongs on the leading fork and only two prongs on the trailing fork.